About Laura

Laura Bogart’s work has been featured on Salon, The Rumpus, The Manifest-Station, DAME Magazine, Press Play, and The Nervous Breakdown — among other publications. She has awarded a Grace Paley Fellowship by the Juniper Institute at UMass Amherst. She is currently working on a novel tentatively titled Your Name is No.

Hi Laura. I’m a fiction editor at Red Bird and just spent the afternoon formatting your “Hurricane Drunk” for ebooks. I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed working with your words and that the books is ready on Smashwords now: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/314347.

Ditto. This section esp. “Whenever I doubt myself, whenever I feel ugly, I turn to the one photo I have of myself as a child. I’m seven years old, and I’m beginning to plump up. My belly strains the fabric of my footie pajamas, but I am all smiles, fists at my hips in a Superman pose, a baby blanket cape around my neck. I’m starting to be teased at school, and the lunch ladies give me smaller spoonfuls of mashed potatoes, but I’m not ashamed (not yet). I don’t care about being beautiful or fitting in. In this moment, I know that no matter what happens to me, no matter what I’ll endure, I am powerful.” Beautiful.

I just read your latest essay on Salon (titled “Love at any size”), and I felt compelled to tell you something…but unfortunately, I’m not exactly sure what it might be.

You’re strikingly beautiful, but that’s not it.

You’re a very talented writer, but that’s also not it.

Your mom’s a bit of an ass, but I don’t really have the right to say that, and that’s not it either. (So I probably shouldn’t leave that in, but I probably will.)

I think the closest thing to it would be that you’re absolutely fascinating. There’s an inherent strength in vulnerability – as there is also in anyone whose body is outside the socially acceptable range – and whether you know it or not, that strength is deeply and powerfully attractive in its own right. You see it in the love of your friends, and I have no doubt that some day you will see it in the love of your husband.

And perhaps that was it, after all.

Thank you for having the courage to share yourself that deeply and publicly. I appreciate looking into an alternate mirror and seeing a kindred soul staring back.

Have enjoyed a couple of your Salon articles. Family life, the nirvana of the Right, was also for me a living hell. Slightly less violent, but racist, misogynist, and classist. Perhaps that explains my (male) visceral revulsion to Mitt and his ilk.

Hi Laura — I just read your “Love At Any Size” story on Salon.com and wanted to tell you that your prince charming is out there, and hopefully you will meet him sooner rather than later.

I am one of what I think are many men out there who are not only attracted to curvy, voluptuous women but who are proud to be out in public with them while holding hands and showing other PDA that many couples do. You will meet a great guy who will be happy to show PDA with you while giving you the love you want and deserve. Like I said, there are plenty of us out there.

I have dated plus-sized women who were happy to hold hands in public and were proud of how they looked, but have also dated some who were ashamed of how they looked and tended to shy away from PDA for, I guess, fear of attracting attention (maybe fear that people would wonder why that not-fat guy is holding hands with that fat lady?). In a couple of cases, our relationship ended because she could not accept my sincere compliments about how beautiful she was and how much I was attracted to her as she was. Very sad, indeed. Hopefully I will find the “right” match someday as hopefully you will find yours.

I just read your article on Salon about your mother not defending you from an abusive father. It was hard to read. I read it anyway because I was seeing my own thoughts and feelings being articulated in a way I could never express. While it pains me to know that others bare the scars of these kind of wounds, it’s nice to know that I’m not alone. Thank you.

Hi Laura,
I have read two articles of yours via Salon magazine. Why I choose to be fat, and I can’t forgive my mother.
I too had a violent father, a boxer as well; he didn’t hurt me by hitting,but he bashed my older brothers and sisters out of home and hurt my soul in other violent and sad ways.
My mother allowed so much to happen in order to protect herself and fulfill a need for being brave. My physical scars are from my mum, she was good at hitting, with anything really.
I too have fat around me, particularly around my belly, which I recognise now as my biological airbag. I too had a neighbour boy.
Your words are courage to me.

Laura, I went searching for answers about the way that I felt about the last scene of The Hateful Eight, and came across your article. You managed to articulate everything I was feeling about his past and present works, and I want to thank you for that. Reading some of your work on Salon, I am so enamored and moved by your work. Thank you!

I just read “I choose to be fat” and thank-fucking-God. I’ve never heard an opinion like yours, even though it is how I feel. I choose not to diet, and I choose to only exercise for fun or to be healthier, not to lose weight. I haven’t told anyone this except my husband. He supports me 100%.
it makes me very happy to read that someone else feels the same way. Thank you very, very much.